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1910 
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ExMMA HUC;HES 




Book U_2J_2j/ 4 



BY 

EMMA HUGHES 



PRE88 OF BYRON e, ADAMS, WASH. , C. 9, 

1910 



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TRUTH. 

Truth is mighty and will prevail 
Changeless, and cannot fail. 
Stand up for truth, "To will and do," 
Always to "Thine own self be true." 

It will teach you how to live, 
How to labor, how to give; 
How to reap and how to sow. 
In this world we need to grow. 

Try to grow in wisdom's ways. 
Follow all the truth ; it pays. 
Cling to faith and truth will give 
That inward peace in which to live. 

With courage brave and truth for guide, 
Our sorrows, cares, can ne'er abide. 
Hearts well tuned with love will be 
One faith, one hope, one victory! 

Truth is strong and will endure. 
Conquers all, and is so sure; 
Let its power within you reign, 
Love it ! Life will be your gain. 



THOUGHTS. 

Thoughts are forces, try to lead them 

To the Highest for your good; 
Lift them higher and still higher, 

Only this can ease your load. 

Some cherish good thoughts for a moment; 

Ah! there is their great mistake. 
Had they lingered along with its message 

Their minds would have been wide awake. 

The thoughts that we hold for others 

Do help or hinder the plan ; 
Such force they send through the Universe 

To weaken or strengthen the man. 

Beware of the pain that will follow, 
The way of the thoughtless is hard : 

Our thoughts may be guided aright 
To help the life that is marred. 

We need not to stop for one moment. 

The mystery already revealed; 
In leading our thoughts to the Highest 

We open the mind that is sealed. 



LABOR. 

He is truly great who labors for love, 
And maketh no account for honor ; 

His scepter of gold is ever filled 

In the work he has done for another. 

It is easy to labor and to wait, 

When we know through love is given 
Much strength and power to overcome 

Many ills that we wish to lessen. 

The labor of love is sweet indeed. 

No matter how hard the task; 
Strive to conquer, and fill the need. 

Wherever you may be asked. 

To work in His vineyard day by day 
Means love for humanity alway, 

Seeking to serve the Highest we prove 

One greatest blessing, "The labor of love.*/ 



PLANTS. 

Each plant has its parasite, 

And we in our growth 
Shake them off one by one 

As the stem budding forth. 

Each has a human shape, 

A Hkeness to reflect, 
An image of the Infinite 

Sweet memories may detect. 

A magnet must be made, 

As in geniuses of old; 
Mind cannot entertain its powers. 

If limited and cold. 

Man, like the plant, he deals 
With Nature in his course, 

Resolves to know the greater things 
Its mystery and its force. 



LOVE. 

Love is Mastery over self, 

Falsity it will disdain; 
Interpret for yourself today, 

And love will be your gain. 

Full of joy and simple trust, 
Try to gather all of good; 

Love is strong and always just, 
Fed upon this heavenly food. 

Its precepts, High and Holy, 
Is gain for what its worth ; 

We cannot measure sparingly. 
The price brings joy and mirth. 

Joy to all, for love is broad. 
No small compass can define. 

This great truth embraces all, 
Never let your love decline. 

Now, dear friends, I would suggest. 
The love that you must hold. 

Be always seeking for the best. 
In the one great love unfold. 



AN EASTER SONNET. 

The beautiful hues in summer skies 
Tell of great wonders to passers by; 

Radiant lives see more and more 

Catching in Nature as moments fly. 

Thrilling with joy this Easter fills, 

0*er all the earth His life sublime. 
In every creature, in every seed, 

Waiting its own in its due time. 

Filling the soil with all that is sweet. 
Noble thoughts will thus overflow. 

Life that is meant for us to shew 
Is the love to humanity ever aglow. 

Easter flowers are freed from the earth. 
Showing their beauty in colors so grand; 

Better than all is the life that is worth. 
Building aright our lives will stand. 

As in ages gone by the flowers have stood 
Each year bringing their frangance sweet, 

Under the earth in the cold and chill 
Life has been kept protected from sleet. 



HOPE AND FAITH. 

I hope, says one, tomorrow 
The fulhiess of joy may come; 

Not thinking how weak the asking 
Without the Faith may doom. 

Expand thy faith, dear brother. 

Not simply hope to be. 
Thy faith will prove it later 

The best or worst for thee. 

Our power is kept in idleness 
If only we hope that we can, 

The strength and the will to do 
Is the way of the Higher plan. 

Faith is tried in many ways, 

But is the greatest assurance of all, 

A quality that only can satisfy 
Will remove when hope will fall. 

Direct your hopes to the Highest, 
Let faith be your treasure and trust: 

Lean on the one great Power, 
Exalted in Him you must. 



CLIMBING. 

We can climb the heights of the mountains, 
And down to the valley beneath; 

There the symbols of God's great power 
Is often hidden away in a sheath. 

We cover up all that is holy, 
In this sheath are apt to employ 

Wrong thoughts in wrong directions 
Do not fit for the goal nearby. 

The climbing for us should be greater 
Than mountain, or valley, or sea ; 

But be careful when thou art stepping — 
In this life we need to be free. 

The climber is often weary 
Who tries to battle for greed; 

This self which is full of danger 

Must be conquered e'er we can be freed. 

Only Thy will, oh. Father, 

Can help us to climb alone; 
In the midst of many dangers 

Thou art the same "Great One." 



10 



THE HELPING HAND. 

To shelter our brothers in deep despair 
The helping hand draws near, 

And cheers the seeming comfortless 
To make his life more clear. 

Help that helps the thirsty soul 
To depths of love and grace, 

Is the helping hand now needed — 
We should meet it face to face. 

Strength will be given to overcome 

Many obstacles tho' near. 
Our love for principle the test, 

Great faith in our brothers clear; 

The help be like a soldier's brave 

To give along life's way. 
The best that we have is sure to win, 

Truth always will obey. 

Do life's common task as it comes, 
Be quick to see needed relief; 

Be happy, be generous, and loving — 
Fear not, for the time is brief. 



11 



SPRINGTIME. 

Springtime, glorious springtime, 

Fresh revival of the fittest ; 
In the air so rich and balmy 

Branches fresh on earth thou givcst. 

Buds and blossoms putting forth 

All their energy to gain. 
Life is giving what it hath. 

Every season maketh plain. 

First the blade, then the ear. 
So the blossom in its course 

Seeks the sun to help uplift 
Life itself the only force. 

Spring the season of the year 

Bids us grow from earth to heaven; 

In this growth the richer fruit 

Transformed in our lives be given. 

Patience, too, must far excel 
Nothing ever done too well. 

In our daily tasks we find 

Our only source, the spring, doth tell. 



12 



SYMPATHY. 

Sympathy given is a blessing received ; 

Indeed, one of the greatest of all 
If given with love for the sake of the one 

Who is feeling depressed by a fall. 

It enlarges the life, the one perfect whole, 
Which needs loving kindness today. 

In sorrow and pain can find relief. 
True sympathy works every way. 

To mellow our hearts in compassion 

For the brother who needs and approves, 

Take the sweet for the bitter to strengthen 
The sympathy destined to prove. 

May this work be yours and mine 

To help each struggling soul 
In many ways when understood 

Our lives may teach the whole. 



U 



THINGS OF LIFE. 

The many mixed-up things of life 

Will sadden or make joy; 
I wonder why so many feel 

That life is all a toy? 

This reckless thought makes many mourn. 

Countless millions every day 
Still are wavering and being torn — 

Life was not made for play. 

Life is something for earnest thought, 
Life is loving and giving each day, 

Life is the goal to be reached, 
To be worked for in this way. 

Life is not worry, it will never bring 

This light of life to thee. 
Love fills you with the greatest life 

If you will loving be. 



14 



MISTAKES. 

Sometimes the road is rough 

And long to our tired feet; 
We fain would linger on, 

Our life the less complete. 

Through our mistakes we learn 

Sometimes to grasp the greater things, 

To know ourselves more fully 

We learn the lesson Eternal brings. 

*Twas our mistakes that lead 

To pleasures so often untold. 
There was no happiness, but then 

Lessons taught us to unfold. 

We who have sown thorns and briars 
Instead of love, the chosen seed, 

Will grow along with our desires — 
The love of self the giant weed. 

The friends we love can deeply wound; 

They always seem to find 
And see mistakes in many ways — 

Dost thou think them always kind? 

Love, Eternal Love, will scatter 

All the briars help remove. 
In our daily lives will gather 

Be unattached, our brother prove. 



15 



DAWN. 

The false dawn of earthly life 

How fast it fades in gloom ; 
Hasten onward to the changeless, 

Higher hopes will then assume. 

Loiter not, lest you would stumble, 
Many thorns be in your way; 

Trust yourself, nor heed the stubble, 
Rise above all earthly clay. 

Petty laws will make no right, 
They only scatter men apart; 

The life evolved will help the race 
And fill with love the human heart. 

Surely man must guard himself 

Ere he can himself be true. 
To rise above and penetrate 

The soul of man again renew. 

This lordly weapon love will guide, 
Nor need no trials in the way; 

The life well-lived is surely grand. 
Will lift us up above the clay. 

When on earth our mission's filled. 
We rise to more celestial plane. 

Our work well done whilst here below 
Will fit us for the greater gain. 



16 



KINDNESSES. 

'Tis the little kindnesses 

Help our brother on the road 

To greater deeds of beauty 
If we have rightly sowed. 

The little deeds are always 
More precious to our hearts, 

In them we often find 
The seed that love imparts. 

Kindness will ne'er forget 
The one who is needing sore; 

This life is full of kindness 
When we ourselves no more. 

The great love follows us, 
Never can we get away; 

Strive on; more love will come, 
Kindness will help the way. 

Acts of kindness which have made 
Some dear soul more free 

Have crowned you with a blessing. 
The crown of life 'twill be. 

This crown of life is evergreen. 
Don't let it fade with time; 

Such will gather in your memory 
Kindness and love sublime. 



17 



BE STRONG. 

Child of man, awaken 

The Powers that dormant lay ; 
Within thy breast lies shadowed 

The heart that once was clay. 

Be strong and vigilant in mind, 
Thy work will follow thee ; 

Create thy soul and stand alone 
To will ! to dare ! to be ! 

Thy will to choose the Higher state 
Which love of truth demands. 

Awaken, then. His promise wait 
To cheer with love command. 

The world is sad and troubled, 
Her heart is drenched with fear; 

The seeds of truth lie scattered. 
But are growing everywhere. 

What shall the harvest be, then. 
When we our work complete? 

The help that we have given 
Is thine alone to meet. 



18 



THE SOUL. 

Resplendent in beauty, 
Divine at its source 

The soul will be lifted 
To God in its course. 

With courage undaunted, 
Our feet planted firm 

On great resolutions. 
Dependent on Him. 

Be not cast down. 
Thy soul will live 

To grow in splendor 
With more to give. 

The seeming difficulties 
Of life perchance 

Have gained for thee 
More love enhanced. 

Strength must thou ask 

Of God alone. 
To build on Him 

And wait thy doom. 



19 



SUNSHINE. 

This morning bright with sunshine, 
Air so bracing and so calm, 

Full of life and splendor, 
We all can feel its charm. 

Plenteous in its riches, 
Boundless fruits we gain 

Through love that works within us 
When natural as the rain. 

Not like troubled willows 

Surging o*er life's sea. 
Let the radiant sunshine 

Ever work in thee. 

Telling of its glory 

Then your strength will be 
One so great and holy 

Will forever dwell with thee. 

As mighty as the ocean. 

The power that dwells within; 
Its treasured price is priceless. 

Its wisdom gained through Him. 



THE LAUREL. 

Beware of the lure of the laurel, 
We are bom for a higher estate 

Our troubled self for ambition 
Will blind us perhaps too late. 

And so ambition in the mind 
Is diverse in many ways; 

It is like the laurel grows 
So frequently it plays. 

In patterning our lives 

By the laurel-crowned chain 

We unknowingly annex 

The desire for wreath of fame. 

And sometimes all-absorbing 
The desire of fame will be, 

It will fill us with all selfishness, 
No reward for you or me. 

As self the root cause of all evil. 
Ambition will carry us away 

From the path we earnestly seek — 
Beware of temptations today. 



21 



PICTURES. 

In the moonlight I was sitting, 

Dwelling on the light, 
When many varied pictures 

Glanced before my sight. 

One was true to nature, 

All sublime with grace, 
Gentle as a whisper 

Which time could not efface. 

Then a storm and tempest 

With a light so dim, 
Till again the moonlight 

Shone through clouds so thin. 

Nature loves all seasons. 

Oh! that I could, too! 
In the quiet moonlight hours 

Expression gives to few. 

Love is the soul, sweet picture 
It permeates through and through 

Nature draws us nearer 
The goal we have in view. 



22 



CREATION. 

"Man is his own creator," 

This universe is his 
To plan, to make, or falter. 

According as he wills. 
His instrument is greater 

When noble thoughts do guide, 
His latent powers lie dormant 

Till Faith bids him arise. 
Awaken, then, to onward go 

He settles for the right ; 
This earth is his dom.inion. 

The way for him is bright. 
Altho' the path seems weary 

To those who would refrain, 
Some tasks are seeming easy 

And some are hard again. 
The awakened soul fresh courage takes, 

And on his upward path 
Goes slowly as the flowers grow 

And giveth what he hath. 
Man must be himself alone 

Along this path to win, 
No anxious care or evil thought 

When Christ doth dwell within. 
Put thy trust in God alone, 

Thy faith make strong each day 
To overcome all obstacles — 

This is the only way. 



23 



GLORIFICATION. 

The beautiful hues in summer sky 

Tell of great wonders to passers by; 

Radiant lives see more and more 
We catch in Nature as moments fly. 

Thrilling with joy this Easter fills 
O'er all the earth is life sublime ; 

In every creature, in every seed, 
Waiting its own in its due time. 

Filling the soil with all of good 
Life that is meant for us to show 

Noble thoughts will thus complete. 
Love for humanity all aglow. 

Easter flowers are freed from earth, 

Showing their beauty in colors so grand; 

Better than all is the life that is worth, 
Building aright our lives will stand. 

As in ages gone by the flowers have stood 
Each year bringing their frangance sweet, 

Under the sod in the cold and chill. 

Life has been kept, protected from sleet. 



24 



JUST FOR TODAY. 

Look not to the morrow to solve thy doubts, 
Now is the time to scatter the clouds, 
To delve to the innermost parts of self 
And find what is prone to befall, or help. 

It is for today God's blessings are given, 
Be ready, be glad, to receive them with Him, 
To guide with his spirit. His love to control, 
All seeming trials Himself will make whole. 

Each day as you make it so the test, 
No day is better than the rest. 
Rewards are not for us to know — 
The seeds well sown will surely grow. 

No claim on work supremely done. 
Its God's work and His the victory won. 
No merit, then, from outside foes to meet. 
We stronger grow and life is more complete. 

As it becomes more sacred so we find 
The many gifts are given to help unfold 
The inner self from selfhood is made free, 
And we are one in this great Trinity. 



25 



THE SHINING LIGHT. 

Is your light shining, "Child of the Perfect One," 
In whose aim to bless all, He would give 

Of Himself in words and deeds alike 

The impress left on some dear soul to live. 

Is thy light shining each and every day 

Apart from worldly objects to obey 
The one great principle of love the test, 

Beaming bright in thine unfolded breast. 

Say, is it thine to keep within thyself. 
Thy selfish heart must break away from gain 

The love of self will scatter all of good, 
Awake, then, to one common plane. 

To serve, to cherish, all that comes our way 
May be, in the dark, dismal of the night. 

Thy soul awakens and becomes thyself — 
Hurry on to do with all thy might. 

Fear not, dear friend, this will help thee know 
What's best for thee. In life we come and go, 

Dear Lord, I ask that my desire may be 
To help along life's journey full and free. 

Free to dear souls who want to know 

Their destiny should dwell within each one. 

Be loving, strong, tender and true. 

Then show thy light, the doing is for you. 



26 



SILENCE. 

More precious than all the pearls of great price 
In the silence the soul may be found, 

Our hearts when cleansed with the spirit of love. 
The beauties of life will be crowned. 

No sacrifice, then, we need cherish. 

More sacred than all is this power. 
This silence enriches the heart 

And filleth the soul with desire. 

One part of the whole felt in silence 

Is the one for us all to obtain; 
How priceless the pearl when locked closely. 

The shell does not open in vain. 

Close folded our lips will be silenced, 
Our thoughts will be lofty and pure; 

Let us cleave to the highest and holy 
In the silence, be true and be sure. 



27 



ABUNDANT LIFE. 

Still strengthen thy faith 

That thy soul may live, 
Thy temple be guarded 

To praise and to give. 
Do not lessen its worth 

By extolling thy fame, 
Just simply try trusting 

The one sacred name. 
In telling its wonders, 

To seek it we gain 
More strength to conquer 

Our trials and pain. 
Lift up your voices 

Each dawn of the day, 
Expecteth thy duty 

To praise and to pray. 
This heaven is full 

Of radiance divine. 
Its treasure the kingdom 

In it we would shine. 
The glory of love 

None else can excel, 
In tune with the Infinite 

Is blissful to dwell. 
The sun has its power 

And always so bright, 
On all the dear souls 

Who are yearning for light. 
More love for humanity 

Will rise in our breast. 
Our hearts overflowing 

Will give what is best. 

28 



WORK. 

Do thy work well, 

Nor heed the tempter's snare; 
Discouragement can find no place 

When mind is centered there. 

Material wealth is lost to sight 
When power is given to men 

To cast all difficulties aside, 
The soul to be our gain. 

This work would be at stake 

If only greed, our aim. 
Would not complete this will of min< 

Its worth is all I claim. 

Beyond, then, would we further go 

To reach the far-off dome. 
And give to those who cannot do 

This work which is our own. 

A gift from high, our only source, 

Will help us overcome 
Many trials that beset us 

Are no longer filled with gloom. 



29 



THE LOTUS. 

I stood still, my heart sank within me, 

While I waited the Lotus to free; 
The road was dark and dreary, 

My lonesome self ne*er could see. 

Like others I had learned to be selfish 

For joys and pleasures of home; 
I was helpless when I need to be strongest, 

In me there was nothing but gloom. 

Now the Lotus was waiting patiently 

For me to dispense with all fear; 
When I touched it with the spirit of love 

It sent out its fragrance to cheer. 

Its perfect perfection and odor so sweet 

I looked with consciousness into the flower; 

My weariness left me, I became strong. 

Amazed, with its beauty, its perfume and power. 



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